From:
Lisa Shortley
Date: 2001-07-07 07:40:00 UTC
Subject: Nala's post mortem
Hi everyone,
First, thank you greatly for all the kind words and ecards I've
received. It's so nice to have so much wonderful support in such an
awful time. I can't remember feeling this empty before. I miss her
so badly...
My vet called me about 45 minutes ago with the results from Nala's
post mortem. All of her organs looked great. Her stomach was black
from hemmoraging but her stomach wall was not thickened or had any
look of any sort of indication of a long term ailment. There were no
signs of cancer or tumors or anything on her stomach wall.
Filling her stomach, besides blood, were a bunch of little white
flecks which she said looked a lot like paint.
She asked me when my house was built because she's seen this type of
poisoning in birds, which are more likely to chew on walls and ingest
paint that way. I told her I still had the paint the room was painted
with - and it is not lead based paint but she told me that it's
possible that waaaaaay before, there was a layer possibly. I don't
remember signing any release form here about that possibility.
I called my landlord who has owned and lived here since 1980. She
said that lead based paint was never used. My townhouse is only 20
years old. She bought it when it was new - and this was after lead
based paint was outlawed.
My vet is not sure. She said that whatever this was, it is very weird
and freaky. She sent the blood that was withdrawn from her stomach
with the sandy substance off to pathology yesterday. She took a
sample of her stomach wall (that still had the white flecks attached)
to pathology and to toxicology. She also sent a sample of the white
flecks off to toxicology. She is trying to find a lab that will test
for lead based paint just in case.
Other than that, nothing else was uncovered. And absolutely, this
should not have happened and my little girl should still be with me.
I feel completely robbed.
I read in the archives here last night about AIHA. My vet feels that
this is not a possibility. Dr Williams, anyone, if you have any
suggestions or advice, please contact me immediately.
Nala will be getting creamated.
Lisa Shortley